


Kindling

by afuckingcastleintheclouds



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Animal Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:40:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24599905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afuckingcastleintheclouds/pseuds/afuckingcastleintheclouds
Summary: In which Nico is an overly enthused wildlife journalist who is obsessed with wolves and Leo is a less than enthused former electrical engineer. When Jason gets Leo a gig on the film crew to shake up some things in his life, Leo gets a lot more than he bargained for. (Inspired entirely by Bertie Gregory from National Geographic)
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Leo Valdez
Comments: 14
Kudos: 36





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I recognize that the premise is a little far-fetched and likely couldn't happen in real life, but that's the beauty of fanfic (:

Days one through ten of Leo’s leave of absence were what he expected. He still woke up early and cooked breakfast in his studio apartment. He went for walks and failed miserably at doing at-home yoga videos. His body wasn’t quite limber enough. 

But, by the end of the first week, he started to wake up later and later. His walks outside were replaced with walks to the door to pick up another delivered pizza. And on the day Jason finally used his spare key to get into Leo’s apartment, Leo was still asleep at 1:30 PM. Thus, Jason had no choice but to thrust the nearest pillow directly at Leo’s head.

“The fuck, man?” Leo grumbled as he sat himself upright.

“Get out of bed.”

“No.” Leo slithered back beneath his sheets. Immediately, he was hit with pillow #2.

“Leo, get up.”

Leo, now resigned to the fact that he would never get back to sleep, sat back up again. This time, Jason was sitting on his bed. For a moment, his heartbeat quickened, but then he had to remind himself that Jason was in fact very much in a relationship with someone else. “What do you want?”

“You wanna come on a trip with me?”

“Where? And how much?”

Jason grinned. “That’s the thing. We’d pay you.”

Leo cocked an eyebrow, “We? This feels sexual.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Jason rolled his eyes, but held no malice in them. “I mean, my job. That’s what I’ve been trying to call you about.”

“What? You want me to come on an expedition?”

“Yeah. It’ll probably be around six weeks in Vancouver. You in?”

Leo shook his head. “You’re joking, right? All this is to get me to wake up?”

“Nah, man.” Jason breathed out, “I’ve been thinking. This leave of absence after your little-”

“Please don’t say it-”

“Anyways, this leave of absence is at the perfect time. One of the camera guys on our crew is going on paternity leave and we could use another set of hands,” Jason said. “Come on, man, you’re always talking about wishing you had a fun job. You in?”

“Dude. How the fuck am I supposed to just pack up - I don’t even - I’m not a fucking wildlife photographer!” 

“You’ll be fine, you’re an engineer. This guy did a bit of filming and a bit of editing but was mostly an audio engineer,” Jason said.

“I’m an electrical engineer! It’s completely different.”

“Actually, you’re more of a pencil-pusher.” He softened at the offended look on Leo’s face. “Your words, not mine. And you love camping! It’s the same thing, pretty much. Look man, I didn’t want to have to play this card, but also,” he leaned in closer, “I’m proposing to Piper on this trip.”

Leo’s jaw fell open. It made sense. Jason was approaching 27 and he and Piper had been dating for about 6 years (with a break in the middle). He could hear his own voice hollow out as he mustered, “Wow, man. That’s really big. Um, congratulations! I’m so happy for you guys!”

Jason’s grin was worth it. “Thanks, Leo. So, yeah, man, I need my best friend by my side. I got the ring already and it makes sense because we actually hung out for the first time on one of these expeditions.”

“Wow, yeah, that’s perfect.”

“So, what do you say - are you in? Because if you are, you gotta get set up in training like ASAP.”

Leo sighed. “Okay, look, I don’t know. I’m not trying to get eaten by a snake or something.”

“You won’t! And you’ll get plenty trained on wildlife procedures.” He could hear the excitement in Jason’s voice.

“I’ll get paid?”

“Of course. And it’s a free quest!”

Leo paused. He was getting tired of the city. A few weeks somewhere else would be a welcome change. “And I can leave after the proposal?”

Jason laughed, “I’m sure you can talk about that with whoever does your contract.”

Leo shrugged, “What the hell, man. Let’s do it.”


	2. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Rec: Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 3, Op. 101: Aubade: Morning Serenade (Suite No. 3, Op 101: V) performed by Andrew Litton, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, written by Sergei Prokofiev
> 
> If anyone is OOC, which they probably are, just know that it's been years since I actually read PJO/HOO....don't hate me.

**Chapter One: Training**

The first day of training was nothing like Leo imagined. He had stacks of paperwork to absorb and sign. In the morning, there were modules upon modules of biology and ecology and chemistry and wildlife safety procedures. There were countless waivers and releases that he probably should have been reading more carefully. The training center itself was full of identical rows of 6 computers each. Leo was immediately flooded with painful reminders of his cubicle at the engineering firm and audibly gagged.

Later that day, when Jason swung by around lunch, the training facilitator, Percy, snickered, “Ah, Jason, come to steal away my star pupil?”

“Definitely not,” Jason grinned, “I’m here to pick up Leo. If you’re training him, I know he hasn’t learned a damn thing.”

“That’s probably true,” Percy agreed. Addressing the entire class of eight students, Percy said, “Alright, lunch break time. Meet back here in an hour and I’ll take you all over to the Virtual Reality portion.” Even Leo’s eyebrows shot up at that.

Jason motioned for Leo to follow him and Leo nearly tripped over himself getting out of the training center. “Dear Jesus, that was a lot,” he groaned, following Jason.

Jason winced, “Yeah, training can be a lot but VR is actually pretty cool. They basically test if you learned anything by putting you in these wildlife simulations. Come on, the cafeteria is this way.”

Leo massaged his temples, “I’m not sure if this is for me, man. It’s just a lot more work than I thought it’d be and-”

They turned the corner and walked into the nicest cafeteria Leo had ever seen. And his old job was in a lofty building downtown, so he had seen some nice cafeterias.

“Holy shit, this looks amazing,” Leo just about salivated when they walked in. He didn’t know where to focus his attention first – there was the colorful salad station with a rainbow of vegetables, from crisp, red onion to bright baby corn. He was enchanted by the low hiss of the fajita and taco station. The aroma of jalapeno and cilantro seemed to beckon him. But then, he watched as the juiciest burger patty he’d ever seen soared through the air and landed back on the grill at the grill station. Around a further corner, he could make out a sandwich station, a sushi station and a sign that read ‘Vegan’.

He crinkled his nose at the last one. “Okay, except for the vegan station, everything here smells amazing. I don’t even know where to start.” They were lucky they came early enough to avoid the lines, but their time was soon to run out.

Jason rolled his eyes, “Vegan station? You know, everything-”

“Stop,” Leo looked hurt. “Do not launch into another discussion about the food industry.”

Jason laughed, “Whatever, man. C’mon, the burgers are great.” Leo followed Jason to the burger station where he ordered his usual double patty supreme and chips.

“What’s on the double patty supreme?” Leo asked the chef, Frank.

“Two patties, lettuce, tomatoes, onion rings, our house-made sauce and our house-made specialty cheese made from-”

“That sounds perfect,” Leo cut him off, “I’ll take two and fries.”

Jason said to Frank, “Oh, and this is my buddy, Leo. His food is on me, today.”

Leo felt his face heat up. “Hey, Frank,” he said quickly with a half-hearted wave. “Jason, you don’t have to do all that. I got it.”

“Nah, man. I appreciate you being here, really!” Leo shot Jason a look and Jason continued, “Plus, legally, we can’t pay you all that much.”

“Wait, why not? You said I was getting paid!” Then, Leo remembered how young everyone else in his training group was and how Percy addressed them all. “Wait a second, am I an intern?”

“You’re my intern, specifically.” Jason looked sheepish.

Leo groaned, “I go from being a junior analyst to a goddamn intern?”

“It’ll be fun!” Jason exclaimed, but his expression did look a bit guilty.

“I despise you.” Turning to Frank, Leo added, “Hey, since he’s paying, I’ll also get a large Sprite and can I get some spicy pickles on the side?”

“Well actually,” Frank responded, “beverages and condiments are actually free. The cafeteria is subsidized.”

There was a silence and Leo’s face was deadpan. Finally, he grumbled, “Thanks.”

Moments later, Frank handed them two trays with their lunches. “You can fill up your canteen with soda near the register,” he said. “Later, guys!”

“What canteen?” Leo looked confused as they shuffled away toward the register.

Jason swiped his card after the cashier reviewed both of their receipts. “Shit, another thing I forgot to tell you. So, to make sure everyone here is doing our part to decrease plastic usage, we’re completely plastic-free. Each team has its own canteen so you’ll get yours as soon as you’re officially assigned to my team. Well, Nico’s team, really.”

Along the walls of the cafeteria were gorgeous photographs of all kinds of animals. There were ferocious African lionesses from the grasslands of Namibia. There was a large sperm whale from the Pacific Ocean surrounding Australia. There were slender, wading flamingoes seemingly about to engage in dance from the desert of Argentina. All around the seating area were all kinds of interesting animals. In a way, Leo felt like they were the ones watching him. It was like the reverse of a zoo.

They reached a secluded booth at the corner of the cafeteria and Leo continued, “Why is it Rico’s team? Who’s Rico?”

“You mean, Nico?”

“Yeah, what’s he like?” Leo dove into his burger. It was as amazing as it smelled.

“Well, he’s the lead, meaning that it’s his show that we’re filming and producing.” Jason shrugged, “I actually think you might like him.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s a total nerd, just like you.” Jason grinned while Leo’s face was deadpan. “Seriously, though, for him to have his own show at just 23? He’s crazy smart. And he’s super nice.”

“Seems like a cool dude.”

“Oh, and he’s gay.”

Leo’s face soured as he finished another bite, “So?”

Jason cringed. “I just meant, well, since you’re bi-”

“What, just cause we both like men we’d be best friends?”

“Obviously not. But, I mean, it is a similarity.” Jason looked sheepish. Damn him.

Leo cracked a smile as he finished inhaling the first burger. “Just messing, man. Sounds great – I’ll try to keep my hands off him. Also, are they putting crack in these burgers? Because this shit is delicious!” He licked the sauce off his fingers to prove his point and launched into another bite.

“Actually, I gotta tell you something.”

Leo knew, he knew, that Jason was not about to say that he somehow had fallen in love with him and finally found the courage. He knew that. But, that didn’t stop that secret place in his mind from being hopeful. That didn’t stop his heart rate quicken and that certainly didn’t stop him from sheepishly avoiding eye contact. He could be a bit of a coward, sometimes.

“Tell me what?” Leo took another bite.

Jason cringed, “Okay, so everything in the cafeteria is vegan-friendly.”

Leo stopped midchew and his tone was ice. “What are you saying?”

“You’re eating a vegan burger.”

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” Leo dropped the incriminating food item immediately. “Stop pushing me outside my comfort zone.”

Jason cocked an eyebrow, “Isn’t that the point of all this? Some great adventure to force you outside of your comfort zone? Look, you liked the burger before you heard it was something you didn’t like. Maybe you need to keep an open mind and you might actually get something out of all this.”

“Me? I’m a Mr. Loosey-Goosey, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. I’m just stuck in a little bit of a rut.”

“Maybe,” Jason shook his head. “But you’re also not as chill as you want people to think you are.”

Leo felt called out. “I feel called out right now.”

“Well, then,” Jason looked exasperated, “Just eat the damn burger.”

“Fine, I’ll eat the damn burger.”

Leo took another bite. “It’s good. I can taste the difference, but it’s still pretty good.”

Jason rolled his eyes.

* * *

After lunch, Jason walked Leo to the Virtual Reality training session. “The trainer for this session is pretty tough, you don’t want to be late.” The rest of the eager looking interns were seated in the back of the classroom, so Leo already felt like he was late. The rest of the room, however, was a wide-open space.

Leo grunted. After the laissez-faire morning with that Percy guy and the surprisingly filling vegan burger, he was ready for a nap, not the whip. When he walked into the classroom, though, he was pleasantly surprised.

“Ayy, what up, Piper? Didn’t know I was gonna see you today! Jason said this instructor is pretty tough.”

“Did he now?” Piper grinned. “He shouldn’t have.”

“Yeah,” Leo outstretched his arms for a hug. Piper’s grin widened and she gripped onto his forearm.

“Gah!” Leo let out a tortured scream. He felt his arm being thrust and his torso contorted until he fell to his knees and his left cheek collided with the cool linoleum tile. “Piper, what the fuck?”

“Jason should have called me impossible.” Piper dug her boot into Leo’s lower back.

Leo flipped over and shoved Piper’s leg off of him. “Jeez, okay, no hugs at work.”

Piper addressed the class. “First rule of Virtual Reality – when you step into my classroom, you are in the rainforests of New Guinea, okay? Stay vigilant.” She extended an arm and a warm smile to Leo, which he readily accepted. She winked, “Welcome, though. Take a seat.”

Placed on each of the desks in the back of the room was the virtual reality headset. Leo trudged to the desk in the corner, away from the snickering interns. Idiots. What did they know anyway? The headset was sleek, black and looked like the fanciest, yet most useless, pair of goggles Leo had ever seen. He lifted the pair up to inspect them closer. There was a small scratch on the side, which somehow made Leo feel more comfortable. It was flawed.

There was a _SLAP_ as a thin, wooden pointer stick slapped Leo’s desk. Somehow, Piper made it from the front of the classroom to directly in front of him in about a second.

“Second rule of Virtual Reality – don’t touch anything until I say to.”

_When was she carrying a teaching stick?_ Leo thought to himself. He dropped the headset back onto his desk.

“Third rule – don’t,” she sounded exasperated, “drop the very expensive equipment that was generously donated to us from-”

“Okay, okay, we get it!” Leo snapped. “Don’t do anything I do.”

“Good! Now, you’re getting it!” A wide grin stretched across Piper’s face.

Leo sulked and crossed his arms as she continued to lecture them about VR Safety. When Piper’s attention was off him, he turned his eyes back to the helmet.

He glanced at Piper before tapping it slowly so it would turn little-by-little to face him.

Glance at Piper.

Tap.

Glance at Piper.

Tap.

Glance at Piper.

Glance again (just in case).

Tap.

He leaned a little closer to inspect the make and model. He wanted to know precisely his this device worked.

He always thought VR technology was cool. When he was in high school, his class took a trip to a museum with a Virtual Reality exhibition. He used to think he’d use his engineering degree to do something cool like virtual reality or airplanes. When he got a job at Boeing, he figured he’d be in the field or in the labs on the edge of cutting edge technology. Instead, it was just a shitton of paperwork.

“Dammit, Valdez!”

Leo threw his hands up, “I’m not doing anything.”

Piper rolled her eyes, “Alright, enough of lecture. Let’s get training!”

Leo leaped to an empty corner as his classmates spread out over the wide space. He could not shove his headset on fast enough. Once he turned the headset and clicked through the appropriate settings, it really _did_ feel like he was in Papua New Guinea.

He was engulfed in vibrant green. The hot sunlight bounced through the canopy above. He heard gentle coos of one kind of bird and the low him of bill-clattering of another. There were so many unfamiliar looking creatures – like kangaroos that could climb trees and baby bats – and a rainbow of different kinds of plants. For a moment, he just stood in awe.

“Finally, something familiar,” he murmured when he saw something in the distance that resembled a butterfly. But, as it grew closer, he realized, he’d either gotten really small or the butterfly was huge. Like, big enough that he could see how insect-y butterflies actually looked instead of just the pretty wings. The striped lime green and black wings were huge and the whole butterfly was about the size of the pigeons Leo was used to seeing. It was flapping toward his head, so Leo instinctively ducked.

Their goal for the VR session was to successfully set up a camp while causing as little harm to the natural environment as possible. Leo was nowhere near that goal.

He learned very quickly that he should have paid more attention to the morning training and scenarios. He was accosted by mosquitoes, tumbled into several mudholes and attacked by a wild flamboyance of flamingoes.

“Alright, that’s time, folks!” Piper called out as their devices suddenly went to black. “You can leave your headsets in the back. Congrats to, uh, the kid in the green shirt for being the only person to successfully set up camp today.”

“My name is Hermione.” Green Shirt said.

Piper paused. “My god. It’s starting.”

“Hey, wait!” Leo shouted, “Just give me 5 more minutes and I would have-”

“No.”

“But-”

“No.” Piper smiled to the class, encouragingly this time, “You can try again tomorrow. It’s tough at first, but hang in there!”

Leo sighed and he left his headset on his desk. Piper was scribbling notes as Leo was packing up his things.

“Thanks for the class, Professor,” he teased.

“Oh, shut up.” She glanced up though, now more relaxed than she had been as an instructor. “I’m really glad you’re here though. It’ll be fun to mess with you on a daily basis now.”

“Geez, thanks.”

“Here.” She tossed him a small pack of Slim Jim’s. “You earned it.”

Sometimes Leo was annoyed by how much he genuinely cool Piper was. He felt a tear form in his eye. “Meat?”

“Just for you. I snuck it in here because I know you love that shit.” She patted him on the back. “Let’s go get Jason and peace the hell out.”

* * *

The next four weeks of training flew by for Leo. He was determined to show up the other ‘children’ in his training cohort. The first two weeks were still pretty rough, but by the last few weeks, he found the various wildlife scenarios easier. As long as he kept a cool head in most situations, he could think his way through the problem. And animals were easier to understand than people – if he showed them respect and didn’t fuck up their home, they usually just checked him out for food and then continued on his way. And he very quickly learned how to pick up on warning noises after a couple of particularly brutal days with the lionesses in the Namibian savannah.

* * *

“To Leo,” Jason, Piper and Leo all clinked their beers together. “Congrats on finishing training!” This was not their first round of cheers for the evening.

Jason, now on beer number 5, playfully ruffled Leo’s curls, “So proud of my intern.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “Well, my mad skills make you look really good. So, you’re fuggin’ welcome. Man.” Leo was also on beer number 5 but clearly could not hold it as well as Jason.

“Hazel!” Piper cheered as Hazel Levesque made her way over to the table. She wrapped her arms around Hazel enthusiastically. “Leo, have you met Hazel? She owns this place and _looooves_ giving free drinks to her friends!”

“Nice to meet ya, Hazel!” Leo managed as he extended his hand.

“We literally met five minutes ago.” Hazel had the sparkliest eyes Leo had ever seen. She grinned. “You said that five minutes ago too.”

“Huh?”

“The sparkliest eyes thing,” Hazel chuckled, “You’re super drunk right now, aren’t you?”

“Pfft,” Leo stuck out his finger, “You’re super drunk right now.”

Jason sighed happily, “This place is so awesome, Hazel. Hey, where did the pictures on the wall go?”

She shrugged, “I’m in the process of renovating. Changed the décor, the name, everything! It’s exciting.”

“What’d you change the name to?” Piper asked. Her arms were still wrapped around Hazel.

“Hidden Gem.”

“Yeah.” Jason agreed, “That’s perfect.”

“And,” Hazel’s smile turned mischievous, “we have some new shots.”

“FUCK YES!” Piper clapped her hands together, finally letting Hazel’s arms go, which allowed her to bring the tray of shots to the table.

Leo’s stomach sank. “Shots? Oh no, y’all, I can’t do shots tonight!”

“Why not?” Hazel asked as she passed out a brightly colored shot to each of them. Leo’s was bright green. Piper’s was clear, Jason’s was a deep blue and Hazel’s was a rich red.

“We gotta be in the car and on planes and shit tomorrow and I still have to pack.” Leo groaned. He really did want to try this mysterious-looking liquid.

“Yo, we should call Nico!” Piper wiggled her eyebrows.

Jason laughed, “I already tried. He’s not coming tonight.”

“It’s okay, Leo, you can just wake up really early tomorrow and pack then,” Piper assured Leo, turning back to him.

Jason winced, “Piper-”

Hazel nodded, “Yeah, you’ll totally just wake up really early. By the way, Leo, you have an Emerald Shot. Jason, you have a Sapphire Shot. Piper, my queen, has a Diamond Shot and I've got a Ruby Shot. You all ready?”

“Hell yeah!” Leo's eyes sparkled as he lifted his shot glass. “I’ll just wake up really early.”

* * *

Leo did not wake up really early. In fact, the next thing he remembered was being awoken by the loud ring of his cell phone.

“Hullo?”

“Leo!” Jason sounded relieved, “We’ve been calling you all morning!”

“I’m so hungover.”

“Well, we’re gonna be in front of your place in like 10 minutes. Are you ready to go?”

“I’m so hungover.”

“Are you packed?”

“No, dude. I’m so hungover. I might actually still be drunk.”

“Well, you’d better pack for the next 6 months in like the next 6 minutes, dude.”

“No way, I’m not going.”

“If you don’t go, you’ll have to pay back National Geographic for all of your training.” Jason sighed, as though he expected Leo to refuse to attend.

“Well, how much is that?”

Jason told Leo the cost. Leo gulped. Then, there was a pause.

“I’ll be packed in the next 6 minutes.”

He never hated his past self as much as he did at that moment. In a mad-like frenzy, Leo grabbed his backpack and the biggest suitcase he owned (it was not very big) and stuffed them both with random items from his apartment. He knew he remembered to pack underwear, socks and his laptop charger but was confident of little else. He figured he could borrow anything else he needed from Jason or Piper.

“I hate you both so much,” Leo murmured as soon as he plopped into the backseat. “I blacked out last night.”

Piper nodded, “Ahhh, that explains why you were singing Ave Maria in the bathroom.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you were crying too. So was Hazel. And this rando you befriended,” Jason added. “Shit was a little weird.”

“Great.”

“Oh,” Piper turned around from the front passenger seat, “Here’s some coffee though.”

“Bless,” Leo mumbled as a thank you as he grasped to steaming paper cup from her.

She winced when she saw Leo’s face up close. Piper dove back around to dig through the glove compartment. She turned back with a pair of black sunglasses. “You might want to put these on.”

“Rude. Are these women’s sunglasses?”

“Are you unnecessarily gendering accessories?” Piper retorted.

Not in the mood to be lectured, Leo accepted the sunglasses humbly. “Touché.”

The rest of the ride was quiet and Leo knocked out against the warm car window.

Leo woke up to Jason opening the car door beside him. He yelped, “Jason, _whatthefuck-_ ,” as he nearly fell out of the car.

“Hey, man, we’re here.” Leo glanced outside of the car. There was a small crew of 4 or 5 other people loading luggage in two black vans. “Nico and I just drove the vans back from the garage, so we’re gonna get loaded and then hit the road to Vancouver! Well, y’know, hit the road to the airport to Vancouver.”

“Vancouver?”

Jason looked concerned, “Yeah, that’s where we’re filming for the next few months. You remember that, don’t you? You have your flight ticket?”

“Of course, yeah,” Leo nodded vigorously, “Just a little groggy.”

Then, this skinny kid with jet black hair and tan, olive skin jogged over to Jason’s car. “Hey, Jason. Is this Leo?”

This kid’s happy aura and radiant energy right beside Leo’s soul-sucking hangover made Leo feel instantly violated. “Yup,” Leo nodded, “That’d be me.”

Nico smiled, “Hey, I’m Nico. Nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure,” Leo shook his outstretched hand.

“Oh, I have something for you,” Nico’s smile stretched wider as he dug into his own backpack. “I’m sure Jace told you about the canteen tradition, right?”

All Leo could think to himself was _Jace?_ But then, he took a look at the canteen Nico passed him. It had little doodles on it of Leo’s favorite video game characters and some interesting-looking bears and wolves.

“Oh, wow, man.” Leo managed. “This is really cool. Thanks.”

“Yeah, I had a little help,” Nico laughed, glancing at Jason. “But, welcome to my team! C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew.”

Leo felt like a Grade-A Asshole as he climbed out of the car. This guy spent hours hand-decorating him a gift and all Leo brought to the table was—

  
Leo couldn’t finish his thought. “Hold on a sec,” he mumbled as he dashed behind the car. He immediately needed to vomit.

This was going to be a very long trip.


End file.
